Average spot power price dips nearly 3% to Rs 2.69 per unit in September

The average spot power price fell by 3 per cent to Rs 2.69 per unit in September as compared to the year-ago period on the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) mainly due to ample supply.

The electricity market at IEX traded a volume of 5,675 million units (MU) last month, registering an year-on-year rise of 45 per cent, an IEX statement said.

"With robust sell side liquidity, the average market clearing price at Rs 2.69 per unit saw a decline of about 3 per cent on a YoY basis over Rs 2.77 per unit in September 2019 helping both the distribution utilities and industries to accrue significant financial savings," it said.

The day-ahead market (DAM) cleared a volume of 4,781 MU during the month.

The market continued to witness high sell side liquidity with the total sell bids at 9,669 MU being more than twice of the cleared volume (sales).

IEX said attractive prices and ample availability supported the southern, western and northern state distribution utilities to leverage the exchange market for meeting their short-term electricity requirements as well as replacement of costlier power in order to optimize their overall cost of power procurement.

One Nation One Price prevailed during all 30 days of the month making the exchange the most reliable platform for power procurement, it added.

The trade in the term-ahead market (TAM) stood at 107 MU in September 2020.

The real-time electricity market (RTM) registered a total trade of 704 MU last month. The market saw 41.76 MU as the highest volume traded on a single day on September 2, 2020.

During the month, the sell bids were at 2,159 MU and buy bids were at 924 MU. With sell side nearly 2.3 times the buy side, the average market discovered at Rs 2.52 per unit was attractive for buyers.

On a cumulative basis, RTM achieved a volume trade of 2,865 MU in the first four months since inception on June 1, 2020.

Also, RTM has been seeing continuous increase in the participation since it facilitates the utilities and industries in managing real-time power requirements in the most efficient, and competitive manner with delivery of power at just 1-hour notice.

IEX commenced trading in the green term-ahead market (GTM) on August 21, 2020. Presently, the market offers trade in intra-day and day-ahead contracts in both solar and non-solar segments.

GTM has received an overwhelming response since launch and registered a volume of 82.92 MU during September 2020.

The market saw participation from 20 participants during the month and the highest single day participation of 15 was recorded on September 30.

The key participants included distribution utilities such as CESC, DVC, Bihar, Haryana, DNH, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana.